'˜Ghost' haunts GTU corridors

Along with a new campus, Gujarat Technological University seems to have gained a new campus ‘spirit’. For the past eight days, administrative staff and security personnel at the varsity have been talking of nothing else except their new resident: the ghost who haunts. Securitymen claim to have heard a woman wailing accompanied by the sound of furniture being thrown around even as doors open and close by themselves.

The employees are so scared that officials are unofficially looking for anything that can take care of this apparition. The vice-chancellor, meanwhile, denies it all.

The spook made itself known a month ago, according to the securitymen. Guard Sheetlaprasad Shukla, 51, says, “Rahul was guarding the A Wing that houses conferences halls and offices when he suddenly heard a noise. Scared, he ran to call the other guards. The other men ribbed him first. Finally we agreed to check the place and heard noises as if someone was thumping the benches and breaking furniture. When we shouted out, the noises stopped suddenly. We entered the wing but there was no one in there. The furniture had not been disturbed either.”

Security supervisor Nizammudin Pathan has had several of these ‘supernatural’ experiences. “About 15 days ago, I saw the door of A3 Wing open and close by itself. Later, around midnight, we heard the sounds of a woman wailing in C Wing where the accounts department is situated. Her ululating voice could be heard across the campus. It lasted for two minutes and was followed by the sounds of furniture being thrown around. Suddenly, the three empty lifts in the building went up to the 4th floor and descended. It was spooky.”

Some of the employees have even taken ill due to fright. “A peon called Kiran stayed back in C Wing 15 days ago. He wanted to check what was happening. When we went to check on him, he was lying unconscious. We had to call his family to take him away. He said he had heard the woman’s cries and the sound of furniture being thrown from a height.”

Presence in the lift Vijay Vaghela, incharge at Anusuya Outsourcing that posts peons and liftmen at GTU, said, “Our employee Jignesh Shah was using the GTU lift around 5 pm on Saturday when he felt the presence of a woman next to him. He has not been talking or sleeping since then. He has become mentally disturbed.”

Bhupendra Vaghela, a peon in the accounts department, says, “We are jittery even during the day. Such is the atmosphere that if anyone places a hand on another’s shoulder, the other person jumps out of his skin expecting a ghost. Everyone tries to finish their work and get out as soon as possible.”

Seeking 'outside' help Sources said, “The university created a team comprising Deputy Registrar Jitendra Lilani, Chief Accountant Ramsinh Rajput, other officials and security guards. They stayed here on Wednesday night to check the truth. Rajput has been given the responsibility to tackle the matter. Since Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama was visiting campus on Thursday, the matter was hushed up.”

Sources added that Rajput and Harin Thakkar, the coordinator for foreign students, visited Nandipur near Gandhinagar in a GTU vehicle on Thursday evening to meet a priest.

Sources said, “The officials had also consulted a renowned priest in Gandhinagar who claimed that a restless spirit is on the loose. He advised officials to keep a coconut in the wing she has been haunting so that the spirit enters the coconut which can later be disposed of in a pooja.”

Deputy registrar Lilani refused to comment on the issue.

However, GTU VC Akshai Aggrawal rubbished the ‘rumours’. He said, “The Class IV employees have been spooked. On Wednesday, our incharge registrar stayed the night on campus but found nothing. As for the lift, it is affixed with a timer. If the lift is on the fourth floor, the gadget brings it down to the ground floor after a certain time period. But for superstitious people, this might look suspicious.

“I asked the guards to lock the lifts but they claim that the ghost wakes the guard with the lock, asking him to open the door,” he exclaimed, exasperatedly.

About the pooja, he said, “Those who fear can perform a pooja. We won’t stop them because it is a matter of people’s beliefs. But we are not doing anything officially about the matter.”

Incharge Registrar G P Vadodaria affirmed that he had stayed in the building on Wednesday. “I was there till midnight and heard nothing,” he said.

Offering a more believable explanation, another official, seeking anonymity, said, “Many employees are forced to work late due to staff shortage. One of them could be spreading rumours so that no one is forced to stay back.”

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